In the fickle entertainment industry, career rejuvenation sometimes happens in the most unexpected of ways. This was proved by the long-awaited Friends reunion last week. While the focus was on generating nostalgia for the famous sitcom, many people were more interested in how each of the main actors looked. 

Out of all the cast, Matt LeBlanc drew attention for having aged in a way that could best be described as ‘normal’. Is this a damning indictment of our skewed beauty standards and youth obsessed culture? Probably! However, it also came with a positive side effect: the screenshots provided perfect meme fuel.

Drawing on his uncomfortable pose and middle aged button down, Twitter users began to build an alter ego. Suddenly, he became the internet’s uncle, making awkward small talk and expressing bafflement at his younger relative’s varied lifestyle choices. On top of that, he switched nationalities and embraced being as Irish as possible (with a few Scottish or English examples here and there). 

The meme has turned the actor into an everyman, perfectly playing the role of the distant relative you could expect to meet at an Irish family reunion. It goes to show that if somebody is going to be typecast, nobody does the job better than social media.